Sekaiichi Hatsukoi - Misaki Shion no Baai
by Shion-Ai Misaki
Summary: Shion Misaki just started a new chapter of his life as he started his dream job of being a manga editor. The job's tougher than he had expected, but nonetheless he enjoys every moment of it. He meets new friends through his work and eventually also his one big love? - told from three perspectives, join Shion, Kisa and Yuu on their different paths of dealing with their first loves.
1. Welcome to Emerald!

1 – Shion's 1st Case – Welcome to Emerald!

"Onodera! Have you already called the mangaka?! We need the manuscript in two hours, god damn it!" the guy with the glasses yelled through the entire department as if they were the only people working there.

"As I already said, Takano-san, I am trying to get through to her right now, but she won't answer the phone!" the one being yelled at yelled back.

"Then make sure she answers your calls, you're her editor, aren't you? Get your job done!" he continued screaming.

"I will!" the second guy added.

"Takano-san, here's the schedule for tomorrow's meeting about the serialization of Nakamura-sensei's new manga." a third guy said.

"Alright Hatori, leave it on my desk." the first one said, he looked like the Editor-in-chief of this department.

"Weeeell, anyways, I'll leave you in the care of the people here, although it seems you came at their last phase of the cycle. Good luck, and welcome to Marukawa Publishing!" the front desk lady who showed me the way to my new working place said finally and quickly left me alone, standing in front of all those yelling people, who would be my new working comrades from now on. I asked myself what she meant with _last phase of the cycle,_ but I would find out soon. I didn't know what I should do to catch someone's attention, so I decided to just stand there and wait for someone to notice me. I put on a smile and started looking around the room.

The air was rather… heavy, if you could call it that. It felt like when you haven't opened your windows for a very long time, and the oxygen seemed to be almost completely replaced by carbon dioxide, making it hard to breathe. As if I needed more reasons to think like that, I saw how one of the people was sitting on his chair. To be exact, he was barely sitting, it was more of a lying and he looked like he would fall off the chair any moment now. In any case, I was hoping he was still alive. Just as I was about to look around more, the maybe-chief editor finally saw me standing there helplessly and started talking to me.

"You, who are you, what do you want?!" he asked me.

"Good day sir! Nice to meet you, my name's Shion Misaki and as of today I am starting my job as an editor of the Emerald Department. I wasn't told much, I was only led here and then abandoned by the front desk lady." I said while I bowed down.

"Misaki? Oh, yeah. I remember being told that someone new would start working here today." he said.

"That's me!" I smiled.

"Alright. Well then, I'm Masamune Takano, Editor-in-chief of the Emerald Department. Nice to meet you." he answered.

"It's a pleasure to be working with you from now on!" I said and bowed down again.

"So, uhm, you came at a rather complicated time, Misaki. Uhh… how much do you know of editing manga?" Takano-san asked.

"Uhm, let's say I know the entire theory, but never actually used it."

"I see, well that's more than Onodera there knew when he started, so I guess you'll be alright." he said and started laughing.

"Takano-san, I can hear you." Onodera-san said while still trying to get through to his mangaka.

"And I can hear _you_ , which means you still haven't talked to your mangaka, now have you?"

"…no sir." he said and continued his work.

"Uhm, for starters… oh, I know. Hatori!" Takano-san turned around. A big guy started walking towards us.

"Yes?"

"Hatori, if you have time right now, would you mind showing Misaki around here a bit so he knows where everything is?"

"Alright, Takano-san."

"I'll leave him in your care then. Onodera! Are you done yet?!" Takano-san turned back to Onodera-san again.

"Could you please be silent, I am talking to her right now!" Onodera-san answered.

"Good day, I am Yoshiyuki Hatori, Assistant Editor-in-chief of Emerald, it's a pleasure to meet you." Hatori-san bowed down.

"Likewise, I'm Shion Misaki, thank you for taking care of me today." I bowed down as well.

"Well then, shall we go?"

"Yes please." I said with a smile.

Hatori-san firstly showed me around the department, it wasn't that big, but at least he showed me where I would be working; next to the still not moving, hopefully not dead person lying on his chair. Next he showed me where to find the bathrooms, the break room, the room where meetings were held, the magazine's archive and he also explained a bit about the rest of the building. He told me where to find the Sales Department, if I ever needed to ask them something. He also told me, that if I should have any questions about anything at all, I could always ask him, he'd try his best to answer me. Hatori-san seemed like a kind person, and he didn't seem to be like the others of the department, he had a different air hanging around him.

"Hatori-san, if I may ask this, what exactly is the last phase of the cycle?" I asked him when we were walking back to the others.

"Oh, that? You're here for less than an hour and you already heard of the cycle? Impressive." he smiled.

"Yes, the front desk lady told me about it when she showed me the way, but she also quickly left after she told me, as if she was running away from something."

"Have you heard of the 20 day garden radish?" he suddenly asked me.

"Excuse me?" I was confused.

"Don't worry, you'll understand sooner or later." he said and started laughing, leaving me with more questions than answers. Just as we came back, Onodera-san rushed by and quickly entered the elevator.

"I'll go get the manuscript!" he screamed as the elevator door closed.

"Damn that Onodera, always cutting it close with the deadlines." Takano-san said angrily.

"Takano-san, we are back, I have shown him everything important." Hatori-san said.

"Alright, thanks Hatori, go back to work now."

"Understood. Well then…" Hatori-san sat down on his desk and continued his work.

"What should I do, Takano-san?" I asked

"Why don't you get yourself used with your new working place first? Observe your surroundings, organize your desk to your liking. I'll give you something to work with as soon as I find some time, is that okay?" he seemed to be very stressed.

"Alright then!" I said and walked to my desk, sat down and took out some things of my bag. The person next to me was still not moving at all.

"Uhm, excuse me, Hatori-san? Is he… okay?" I pointed at the black haired person next to me.

"Probably, yes. That's Kisa-san, he's always like that during this time, don't worry." he answered.

"I… see." I said, but in fact, I did not. I didn't understand it, I still didn't know what that cycle was all about.

"Kisa! Kisa, wake up already!" Takano-san yelled at the not moving person. But suddenly he started moving; thank goodness, he was still alive.

"Y-yes?" he answered Takano-san's call with a slightly sleepy voice.

"Kisa, you're gonna look after the newbie until he's fully used to working here, so get your ass off that chair and show him our work."

"H-huh?! Why me?" suddenly he was wide awake.

"Because everyone else is already working."

"Oh come on Takano-sannnn…"

"Uhm, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name's Shion Misaki and starting today I'll work as an editor for the Emerald Department. I hope we'll be working well together from now on, Kisa-senpai!" I said to him. His eyes seemed to widen when he heard the word _senpai_.

"S-senpai?" he asked surprised.

"Don't you like me calling you like that?"

"N-no! It's… it's totally fine by me. It's not like I like being called senpai or anything, haha… ha…" he said while faking a laugh and trying to hide his blushing face. I got the feeling I could become good friends with him.

"Then Kisa-senpai it is!" I smiled.

"S-sure. I'm Shouta Kisa, nice to meet you too, Shii-tan." he said.

"Shii-tan?"

"I give everyone nicknames, I hope you don't mind."

"I don't."

"Oh and sorry for being dead until now, these times of the working process are always so tiring, I haven't slept last night either, haha." Kisa-senpai said and when he did I noticed his eye-bags. I had known from before that this kind of job wouldn't be easy at all, but I was ready for it, I wanted to do it. And I was happy I got the job at Marukawa Publishing.

"Don't worry about it, it's okay. Hatori-san showed me around a bit, now I know where the important things are."

"Oh, he did? That's good."

"I am so sorry, I forgot my bag, I will leave right now again, don't mind me!" Onodera-san suddenly rushed out from the elevator, took his bag and ran back again.

"Typical Ricchan." Kisa-senpai said.

"You're not helping me, Kisa-san." he answered.

"You better be on time, do you hear me, Onodera?!" Takano-san yelled.

"I will, Takano-sa-" but before he could end his sentence, the elevator doors had closed again.

"Uhm, is there anything I could do?" I asked Kisa-senpai.

"Uh, well… I can show you some of the basics of how to create a manuscript, sometimes you'll have to help out the mangaka or their assistants, if the deadline is coming close. Frankly, the deadline will come close anyways. Always. So better prepare yourself for it. Only a few rare mangaka are able to be in time, like Torin's mangaka." he said and looked at Hatori-san.

"Yoshikawa-sensei is by no means punctual. I just force her and make sure she _is._ " Hatori-san answered with a slightly creepy smile.

"Yeah, they say he has some tough meetings with Yoshikawa-sensei." Kisa-senpai whispered.

"Yoshikawa-sensei? She's drawing the long running series in the magazine at the moment, right?" I asked.

"Exactly? You read our magazine?" Kisa-senpai asked.

"I do, I like it a lot. I'm a big manga fan."

"I see. What's your favourite manga in the magazine?"

"Hmm… I think that would be Yamada-sensei's work, I really like the story."

"That's the manga I'm editing!" Kisa-senpai said proudly.

"Really? Amazing! I expected nothing less from Kisa-senpai!"

"W-well, as your senpai I have to show you how things are done, right?" he seemed to be very happy about the fact that someone was calling him senpai.

"I'm curious how it'll continue." I added.

"Well, I know, but I can't tell you. By the way, I really like that funky red strand of hair on your left side, fits the colour of your glasses. And looks good with your black hair and stuff." he smiled. I liked Kisa-senpai, he seemed to be a very nice and fun person to be around with. I hoped to get to know him more as time passed.

"Thank you!" I said.

"Kisa, Misaki, less hair talk, more work talk!" Takano-san said while holding a cup of supposedly coffee in his hand.

"Yes sir." we both said simultaneously and looked down. And then Kisa-senpai started showing me what he was talking about before. I knew all the details from the theory, but seeing it for real would help me improve and get the feeling of my future work, I couldn't wait any longer. I was really looking forward to it, I had been waiting so long and now the time had finally come.

But before he started actually showing me how it's done, he put down some sheets of paper on his desk and faced me once again.

"Before I forget it: Welcome to Emerald, Shii-tan!" Kisa-senpai said with a smile.

"Welcome, Misaki-san." I heard from Hatori-san.

"Do your best, Misaki." Takano-san said. I stood up and bowed down to thank them.

"I am happy to be here, thank you!" I looked up again and smiled. My new life was about to start.


	2. A day with Kisa-senpai

2 – Shion's 2nd Case – A day with Kisa-senpai

"Misaki, your duty today will be to follow Kisa at every moment. Learn by observing, ask him things you don't understand or want explained in more detail, understood?" Takano-san said to me first things the next day I arrived.

"Yes sir!" I was happy he had assigned me to observe Kisa-senpai, out of all the people working in the Emerald Department, I thought I'd best get along with him.

"I'll let Kisa know once he arrives." he added.

"Alright." I sat back down on my desk and waited until Kisa-senpai arrived. I looked around a bit and noticed how very pink and girlishly decorated everything was. According to Takano-san, since we're in charge of shoujo manga, we have to identify with our readers; which are girls aged 11 to 16. And therefore decoration inspired by a teenage girl's room should help us get into that role, apparently. The only thing _I_ knew about all the pink is that I'd never decorate anything like that. As I continued thinking about whether I'd be allowed to redecorate the office, Kisa-senpai finally arrived.

"Good morning everyone." he said as he walked towards his desk.

"Good morning Kisa-senpai!" I said with a smile.

"Morning Shii-tan." he seemed to by slightly tired, maybe he didn't get enough sleep again. I asked myself when I would reach the state of not getting enough sleep.

"Kisa, come, I need to talk to you." Takano-san said even before Kisa-senpai could sit down on his chair. He yawned and walked to Takano-san's desk, and after a while he came back, sat down and turned to me.

"Sooo, you're gonna be stalking me today, huh?" he said.

"Yes, I hope I'll learn a lot today!" I answered sincerely.

"Alright then, let's start."

"Yes please."

"So, normally, the first thing I do when I get here is turn on my laptop and then look at my email inbox. One important part of being an editor is to always be reachable, be it through email, phone or whatever else is possible or suited. Maybe you'll get a message from your mangaka, or from the printing company, a store, an in-house message from a different department; whatever it is, it's important to answer them if required." he started explaining while he was looking through his mails.

"I understand." I said.

"Next thing, as I already said, is checking for missed phone calls. The number written down on your business card is from your office phone, so most people will call you on there. But it's okay too if you want to give someone your personal or mobile phone number as well, to be more reachable. Ohh, Yamada-sensei called…" he said. "It's probably about the next chapter's storyboard, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna call her back now. If you want you can spy on us using your phone, it's line 4." he added with a grin. I took my phone, pressed the 4 button and waited until someone on the other end of Kisa-senpai's line answered the call.

"Yes?" a woman's voice said.

"Good morning Yamada-sensei, I'm sorry to call you this early in the morning. It's Kisa Shouta from Marukawa Publishing, I see you had called…?" Kisa-senpai said. It sounded like something he had to say lots of times, there was some kind of automatism hidden in the way he spoke to the mangaka.

"Oh, yes. Right. About the storyboard of chapter 37… I'm done with it and wanted to ask if it would be alright for you to look through it today?" she asked.

"Of course, that'd be no problem. You can fax it right away if you want, I'll start working on it as soon as I can and will get it done before midnight."

"Thank you very much, Kisa-san. Well then, I shall send it to you now. Thank you again, thank you for taking care of it."

"Thank you very much too, I'll let you know then when I'm finished." and after saying that, Kisa-senpai ended the call.

"See?" he turned to me again.

"I do. And when do you normally take care of looking through it?" I wanted to know.

"Well, frankly, whenever there's some free time left, which mostly tends to be a the end of the day, but since I'm supposed to show you the ropes today, why don't we take a look at it together, okay?"

"Sure! Where does the fax arrive? I'll go get it."

"Oh, thanks. It's just at the end of the floor, in the copy room." Kisa-senpai pointed into the room's direction.

"Alright!" I stood up and started walking. When I got to the room, the sheets of paper were still coming out of the fax machine. After waiting for a while, the last sheet came out, I took the entire stack and walked back to the office.

"Here it is. So this is how a storyboard looks like, huh?" I said as I handed it over to Kisa-senpai.

"First time seeing one?"

"First time actually holding a real one, yes. It is rather sketchy and looks very unfinished, doesn't it?" I asked. I knew storyboards weren't meant to be anything like the final product, but I had imagined it would be less like a pure sketch.

"Nah, they pretty much do always look like this, there's just no need yet for it to be any more detailed. Part of our job is too look at the storyboard and, well, edit it. We have to decide, we have to help the mangaka decide how everything will look like at the end. It's our job to point out mistakes or inconsistencies or to make suggestions to change some things, for both content and package." he said while looking through the storyboard.

"Content and package?"

"Yes, the story and how it's presented, the very being of how the manga looks like. The composition of the single panels, the size, if something is needed or not, if it'd be better to add anything. But our job isn't to change the mangaka's work, it's to improve it. Surely sometimes the mangaka won't agree with some changes, so it's your job too to have a meeting and explain why you'd change things and at the end come to a conclusion together, as a team." he continued explaining.

"I understand. So is there anything you'd change with this chapter?" I asked him finally.

"Well, let's see…" he said and took a red pen and started working.

After roughly half an hour Kisa-senpai was done with about a third of it and he decided to do the rest later, it was enough to show me what he had been talking about before, he said. I learned a lot while observing how he worked, and after putting the storyboard away, he got back to answer some more mails and phone calls.

"Alright, Shii-tan? I have to bring the final manuscript of this week's chapter to the printing company, so get ready to go out." Kisa-senpai said as he stood up and packed some stuff into his bag.

"Okay!" I did the same as him and we were ready to go.

"I'm off, see ya later." Kisa-senpai said while leaving.

"Take care." Hatori-san was the only one who was still there, Takano-san and Onodera-san had left for a meeting earlier. I followed Kisa-senpai into the elevator, once entered he started yawning aloud.

"Damn, I wish I could've slept more than only 4 hours, I need my sleep." he said while rubbing one of his eyes.

"Are we going by train?" I asked him.

"I always go by train, yes. Can you drive? Do you have a car?"

"I can, but at the moment I don't own one, no."

"Well, in the end anything's fine, so just use whatever fits best for you."

"I will." I said and the elevator's doors opened. We left the building and headed to the train station. We took the next train, it took us about 10 minutes in the train and then another 10 minutes by foot to reach the printing company. After Kisa-senpai had handled everything and the manuscript was ready to be printed, we left the printing company again and headed back to the station.

"Shii-tan, it's almost time for lunch break anyways, want to grab something to eat somewhere? I have to visit a book store afterwards and I have to talk to the store chief about the upcoming release of the new volume of Yamada-sensei's manga. And since going back and heading out again would be a bit pointless…" he asked me before we reached the train station.

"Sure, I don't mind." I said with a smile.

"Awesome, let's go have some curry then!" Kisa-senpai said as he raised one arm upwards and leaded the way. After a while we arrived at a small restaurant and entered it. Inside there were no tables, only a bar and stools, it seemed like the restaurant was specialized in take-away food instead of actually taking your time and eat there.

"This is my fav store, they make the best curry you'll ever eat." Kisa-senpai said with sparkling eyes.

"I'm looking forward to it then." I answered him and we both sat down.

"Good day Kisa-san, the usual?" the lady behind the bar asked Kisa-senpai.

"Of course!" he answered.

"And for your friend?" she turned to me.

"Uhh… let's see…" I took a look at the menu.

"Order whatever you want, it's my treat today." Kisa-senpai said.

"Wh-what? No, I… I can pay for mysel-"

"No no no, s-since _I_ am your _senpai_ I have to do this from time to time, haha… ha…" I think he was really proud that he became a senpai.

"Okay, if you insist. Thank you very much, Kisa-senpai. Uhm, I think I'll try the green curry then please." I said.

"Alright, thank you." the lady said.

"Say Shii-tan, what made you wanna become a manga editor?" Kisa-senpai asked me out of the blue.

"Frankly, I'm not sure myself. Since I can remember I always loved reading, and then one time I started reading manga and was fascinated by the fusion of story and art into one great work. I guess I just wanted to do something that involved manga." I explained.

"I see. And why the Emerald Department? I mean, why shoujo manga?"

"Well… I'll tell you if you promise to keep it a secret." I started whispering.

"Oh… okay." he was whispering as well.

"To be honest, I sent a job application to several magazines and departments, but Emerald was the only one to take me." I said silently. And all of a sudden Kisa-senpai started laughing.

"Oh wow, you're incredible Shii-tan, I like you." he said, trying to hold back his laughing.

"Kisa-senpai, it's not nice to laugh at other people."

"Sorry." he said, while still laughing. And then I couldn't help but start laughing as well.

"But it's okay, sometimes that's how one gets to his job. As for myself, I'm not even really sure I like what I'm doing." he stopped laughing and suddenly sounded more serious.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm not doing badly in my job, but I'm not doing very great either. And seeing younger people than me doing way better in the job than me is, you know… It's just that sometimes I feel like anyone could take over my position and no one would care."

"That's not true!" I said.

"Huh?"

"I would care! You're my senpai after all, and I want to learn a lot from you, because I think you're the best at showing me how things are done." I said sincerely. After I told him, his cheeks turned red and he lowered his head.

"R-really?" he asked almost inaudible.

"Yes! Because you're Kisa-senpai!" I said with a big smile, I wanted to cheer him up.

"Thanks, Shii-tan…"

"No problem, senpai!"

Without noticing, our lunch had been given to us already, we calmed down and started eating. After we were done eating, I told Kisa-senpai that he was right about it being the best curry ever and he answered that I could trust senpai's words.

After walking a while we reached the book store he mentioned before. It was huge, way bigger than I had imagined and it expanded over 5 floors. I looked all over the place, every corner was filled with books.

"Let's go, the manga section is underground." Kisa-senpai said while walking towards the stairs.

"This is one huge book store." I said.

"It is, yes." he smiled.

"By the way, earlier you said 'younger than me', who did you mean?"

"Oh… Takano-san. Emerald was basically dying, but when he appeared and became Editor-in-chief, everything went well again." he explained.

"I see, so he… w-wait a second, how old are you Kisa-senpai?" my eyes widened in curiosity.

"…I'm 30." he said whispering.

"Wh-whaa…" before I could even say anything, he already stretched out a little piece of paper. I looked at it and it was his ID card, and it indeed said 30 years.

"Ohh myy…"

"Yeah, I hear that often. I feel like this has happened before already, haha…" he said with a forced grin.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…" I wanted to apologize.

"No no, don't worry. It's okay. Let's get this done."

"S-sure, yes!" I recollected.

"Uhh, where to find an employee now, I have to ask about the chief…" Kisa-senpai was looking around to see if there was someone.

"Ohhhhh, Kusabana-sensei's latest volume! I still don't have that one. Kisa-senpai, is it prohibited to buy manga while working?" I looked at him with big sparkly eyes and Kusabana-sensei's new volume in my hands.

"N-no, I don't think so. Do you like her manga?" he asked.

"I love it! Every single one, I own them all. Kusabana-sensei is my favourite mangaka!"

"Ohhh, interesting. So you do have a connection to shoujo manga after all, with her being a shoujo mangaka and all…"

"Oh, yeah. You're probably right, haha." I laughed.

"Cool. Now where to find someone…" he continued looking.

"I still remember the first Kusabana-sensei manga I read. I had only read through one volume but instantly fell in love with the protagonist. You could even call it my first love."

"Oh really? So your first love was a manga character?"

"Yeah, pretty embarrassing thinking about it now, but I completely fell for him."

"Haha, it's okay. It happens-wait, 'him'?" Kisa-senpai suddenly turned to me.

"O-ohh… I… uh, I'm… oh well…"

"Shii-tan?"

"Yeah, I fell for the male protagonist. I like men."

"…oh."

"I'm really sorry if this is awkward for you or if you don't like that, I hope it won't influence our working atmosphere and… and…" while I was trying to explain myself, Kisa-senpai had lowered his face again and blushed slightly.

"K-kisa-senpai?" I asked.

"…same."

"H-huh?"

"I'm the same. I-it's okay, I… like men, too."

"Really?!" I took him by his hands, he looked up again and I smiled.

"Y-yeah, but… don't tell anyone at work, they probably wouldn't understand, okay?" he said.

"Of course! I won't, I promise!"

"Thanks."

"Hey, Kisa-senpai! Do you have a boyfriend?!" my smile got even bigger.

"Wh-wha-what!?" he started blushing again. I only stared at him, waiting for an answer, but then, out of nowhere that guy appeared.

"May I help you with something, sir?" a tall, blonde, good-looking guy with pierced ears was suddenly standing behind of Kisa-senpai. He was wearing an apron from the store, and was smiling. It was as if he was emitting a sparkling aura, like a prince. And then, Kisa-senpai let out a long sigh and buried his face into his one palm while the other hand pointed at the prince standing behind of him.

"This guy." he said. I looked at Kisa-senpai, trying to understand what he meant. Then I looked at the prince and back at Kisa-senpai again. It took me some seconds, but then I finally understood.

"Eeeeehhhhhh?!" I exclaimed while Kisa-senpai's boyfriend just kept on standing there and grinning like an idiot.


	3. Family business

3 – Shion's 3rd Case – Family business

"Hmm?" the prince asked confused.

"Oh my…" I didn't know what to say.

"Sh-shii-tan, this is… oh just explain it yourself, I need to talk to your boss." Kisa-senpai explained and walked away.

"Eh? Shouta-san?" the prince turned around but Kisa-senpai continued to walk away.

"Uh…"

"Oh, excuse me. I'm Kou Yukina and in charge of the shoujo manga section." Yukina-san said with a sparkling smile. I wanted to cover my eyes, it was as if one was looking at the sun, it was blinding. I envied Kisa-senpai.

"Oh, uhm, no… me too, I… I'm Shion Misaki, it's nice to meet you." I bowed down quickly.

"Sorry, but, where from do you know Shouta-san?" he asked.

"Oh, right. I started working at Emerald and I was told to follow Kisa-senpai today and to learn as much as I can."

"Ohh, I understand." he smiled again.

"So, uhm…" I was thinking about how to ask him what I wanted to ask.

"Yes?"

"Senpai told me that you two are… a couple?" I looked at him questioning eyes.

"Oh! He told you? That's not very like him, you must mean a lot to him."

"R-Really?"

"Yes, Shouta-san doesn't talk much about himself, so I'm glad he has finally found someone he can talk to. Thank you, Misaki-san." he seemed happy.

"Ahh, I hope I'll find someone like you someday." I laughed.

"Like me?"

"Oh, right. Yes, I like men too."

"I bet someone as cute as you will surely find someone." he looked at me.

"Eh?" my eyes widened.

"Hahaha, don't worry. Shouta-san is the one I truly love." I was amazed by how he could just say that without thinking too much about it.

"Uhm, Yukina-san?" I raised the manga volume I was holding in my hand until it covered half of my face.

"You want Kusabana-sensei's new volume? Good choice, I recommend it." Yukina-san winked.

"You already read it?!" I stared at him.

"Yup, this morning after it arrived in the store."

"Oh my go-don't tell me what happens!" I formed a cross with my arms in front of me.

"Don't worry, I never would. Let's go to a checkout, Shouta-san should be near one too since my boss is currently taking over the shift of one of the cashiers that had to go home unexpectedly." Yukina-san explained as he showed the way.

"Alright, thank you very much." I heard Kisa-senpai's voice as we reached a checkout.

"Ahh, Shouta-san!" Yukina-san said happily as he noticed him.

"K-Kou! And Shii-tan."

"Kisa-senpai, everything done you had to do?" I asked.

"Oh, yes. We can go back now." he answered.

"Alright, I just need to buy this aaaaand we're ready to go."

"Okay, I'll wait outside. Kou, I'll call you later." he said and started walking away.

"And here's your change, thank you very much for buying it." Yukina-san said.

"I thank you!" I said as I took the volume and stuffed it into my bag.

"It was nice talking to you, Misaki-san. Feel free to come by again."

"I will, byebye!" I said as I waved my arm and rushed out of the store. I met up with Kisa-senpai and we got back to the company. When we arrived at the office, Takano-san and Onodera-san had already come back from the meeting.

"Welcome back!" Onodera-san said.

"Hello!" I said.

"Ricchan! How was the meeting?" Kisa-senpai asked as he sat down on his chair.

"Well…" Onodera-san took a deep breath.

"Sounds bad."

"Actually, everything was going well. I got to present my idea and everything, but then _Takano-san_ had to start arguing with Yokozawa-san." Onodera-san emphasized how Takano-san was the one having done something wrong. At the same time he raised his voice, he was trying to let Takano-san know.

"Oh those two can argue for days, I feel sorry for you Ricchan." Kisa-senpai said.

"Who's Yokozawa-san?" I whispered curiously.

"You'll get to know him soon enough."

"Misaki! Come here for a moment!" Takano-san exclaimed out of nowhere.

"Y-yes!" I jumped up and approached him.

"How was it? Following Kisa around and stuff?"

"Very informative, I've learned a lot!"

"Was he actually doing his job properly?"

"Takano-saaaan, I can hear you, you know?" Kisa-senpai sulked.

"As far as I can judge it, yes he was." I answered with what I thought was best.

"Well, as long as you learned something, I guess it was worth it." Takano-san sighed.

"Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?" I asked.

"Oh, yes. You can go home for now."

"Uhm… excuse me?"

"Well since you don't have a mangaka to take care of yet, there's nothing much you can do right now. I'll have something for you tomorrow, so just consider this your last bit of freedom after you start working for real." he said in a serious tone. If I didn't know that prohibiting days off was against the law, I would completely believe him. Takano-san seemed like one of those people you don't want to go against, it felt like he'd be the type to always win in the end.

"Uhm, alright then. Thank you very much." I bowed down and got back to my desk to pack my things into my bag.

"Whoa, lucky! I envy you." Kisa-senpai said.

"Hehe, I'm sorry." I finished packing and headed to the exit. "Well then, thank you for your hard work today, until tomorrow. Have a good evening!" I said as I bowed down to everyone. Onodera-san and Kisa-senpai waved at me while Takano-san was already sunken in work. I got on the elevator and looked at my watch. It was 4pm, I still had time to go buy some things before heading home.

Since it was on my way home from the convenience store, I stopped by at my family's bookstore. I was surrounded by books since I was young, so maybe it was destiny that I got into this job. The bookstore was owned by my uncle and his wife. Uncle Yuri is my father's brother, five years older. When I arrived at the bookstore Uncle Yuri was in front of the store, putting some books on display. It wasn't a big bookstore, but it had its own charms.

"Oh, Shion." Uncle Yuri said when he saw me approaching.

"Good afternoon to you too, Uncle, what are you doing?" I asked the obvious.

"Setting a display, why? Did you suddenly go blind?" he answered as expected.

"I see, is Aunt Rin inside?"

"She is. But what are you doing this early? I thought you finally got a job? Don't tell me you were fired already." he looked at me with questioning eyes.

"N-no! But since I'm new they still don't have a mangaka I can take care of, and because there wasn't anything else to do in the office, Takano-san sent me home." I explained.

"Takano? Who's that?"

"The Editor-in-chief, obviously."

"Whatever." he said unimpressed and entered the store. I rolled my eyes and followed him.

"Welcome in, oh, Shion-chan, it's you, what brings you here?" Aunt Rin said as I closed the door behind of me.

"I-"

"He got kicked out." Uncle Yuri said quickly.

"I did not! They just sent me home because there was no work for me, geez." I sulked.

"My, my. No need to argue. If you've got time, why don't you help us out in the store until it closes?" she asked me.

"Huh? Why? I thought you recently got an employee, where is he?" I asked while getting behind the counter where my aunt was standing.

"Oh, he called this morning saying he had caught a cold." she explained.

"Youth these days is just too frail and weak, everyone's a wimp." Uncle Yuri muttered.

"I-I see. Well, I don't have anything else to do anyway, so I can help you out." I said as I put my bag down and took off my jacket.

"You won't be paid though!" Uncle said.

"I didn't expect it anyways, thank you very much." I talked back and put on an apron of the store.

"Shion-chan, it'd be nice of you to take care of customers and… oh you know it already, the usual things, okay?" my aunt asked.

"Sure, no problem!" I answered and started working. Before I got the job at Emerald I used to work part-time at my uncle's and my aunt's bookstore. I also had experiences in other bookstores, but this one still had a different feeling to the others. Some may say that it's because working with family is always easier, but I always tell them they haven't met my uncle yet. And they could be happy that they didn't and pray that they never would.

"Welcome!" just as I wanted to sort some books on the shelves, a small group of three girls entered the store. Judging from the uniforms they were wearing they must've been high school students. "How may I help you?" I asked friendly and put on a smile.

"O-Oh… uhm, we just… came to take a look." one of the girls said shyly.

"Very well then, if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask me." I explained and returned to my task of rearranging the books. It may have been a small bookstore and Uncle Yuri may not care that much about order, but whenever I was working there, I tried to tidy up the place a bit. The girls quickly disappeared behind one of the shelves. I tried to ignore what they were talking about, but their attempt to talk in a low voice failed since I was just on the other side of the shelf.

"Oh my gosh, he's really here!" one of them said.

"I told you I saw him a few times already, he must work part-time here!" another one said.

"You were right, he really _is_ handsome, that guy with glasses." and that's when I noticed they were probably talking about me.

"I told you!"

"But what do we do now? We don't know what to buy, we just wanted to take a look at him." when I heard that it was time to act. I walked around the shelf and started talking to them.

"Are you looking for something specific? Maybe I can help you find it." I smiled at them.

"Ah… n-no, we… we…" the shortest of the girls didn't know what to say.

"…we thought… maybe, you could recommend something to us?" the first one asked.

"I see, well if that's the case… let me think about it for a moment." I put one of my hands on my chin and pretended to be thinking about it. But in reality, I already knew what I wanted to recommend them. "Oh, I see. How about this one." I said after a while and grabbed a book from the shelf in front of me. I stretched out my hand to them and the girl in the middle took a look at it.

"When I look at the night sky I can't help but think of you and my heart starts aching?" the girl read the book's title out aloud.

"Yes, it's a great book!" it was not.

"R-really?" the third one asked.

"Of course, it's a masterpiece." it was trash.

"O-ohh…" the second one faked her astonishment.

"To be honest, I really liked the story. It was very heart-warming, but there's no one I can talk about it with. It's such a shame…" I lied.

"I… I'll buy it!" the first one said with big eyes.

"Me… me too!"

"I'd like one too, please!" all three of them were looking at me, ready to buy a book they normally wouldn't even look at.

"Alright, I'll bring it to the checkout then." I said and carried the books to the counter where Aunt Rin was already waiting. Each of the girls bought a copy of the book and headed out afterwards.

"Thank you for buying at this store! Please make sure to come back soon!" I said as I bowed down. The girls waved their arms and soon disappeared.

"Shion-chan, I really appreciate that you manage to sell books to people, but your methods are a bit…"

"What? It's their fault to begin with, coming into a bookstore only because of my beautiful face. You should thank me, you made money and got rid of some trash." I was joking of course. Normally I wouldn't lie to customers just to sell a book, but for some reason I couldn't hold back with those girls. If they actually read that book and came back, I'd make sure to apologize to them.

"My, my…" Aunt Rin laughed.

Hours passed and it was almost time to close the store when some new customers entered the store.

"Welcome, how can I hel-Takano-san?!" I was surprised seeing him in the store. And he wasn't alone, Onodera-san was accompanying him.

"Misaki?! What are you doing here?" Takano-san asked.

"W-well… you see…" I let them come in and asked my aunt to bring them some tea. I explained the situation and Uncle Yuri and Aunt Rin introduced themselves.

"I understand." Takano-san said after sipping at his tea.

"Thank you very much for taking care of our nephew." Aunt Rin said with a smile.

"Oh, it's nothing really. I'm sure he'll do a good job." Takano-san answered.

"You sure were always surrounded by books, huh Misaki-san?" Onodera-san looked around the store.

"Well, yes. Considering that my parents' jobs are in this field too, haha…" I said.

"Your parents?" Onodera-san asked.

"My brother's a book critic. He had always had something to nag about the books he read as a child, it's like he was born for that job, hmph." Uncle Yuri said.

"And your mother?" Takano-san wanted to know.

"She's an author." I answered.

"Oh, what's her name? Does she use a pen name? I don't recall any writers named Misaki…"

"Y-yes… her name's Hahana Hagahara."

" _The_ Hahana Hagahara?! That's your mother?!" Onodera-san was surprised. I nodded. "That's amazing, Hagahara-sensei is one of the most popular contemporary authors! I own all of her books." Onodera-san seemed to be a fan of my mother's works.

"Please keep it a secret. My mother can be… very scary when she's mad." I shuddered just thinking about the consequences if she'd find out.

"Of course, we won't tell anyone. Right, Takano-san?" Onodera-san turned to Takano-san.

"Hmm, ah. Yeah, sure." he said.

"Thank you. But that reminds me, why did you two come here for? There are no manga being sold here." I asked.

"Oh, I just tagged along with Onodera on our way home." Takano-san said bluntly.

"Ta-takano-san! Don't say things people can misunderstand so easily! Don't listen to him, Misaki-san. I was on my way home and wanted to buy a book. Takano-san just selfishly accompanied me, without considering what I may think about it." maybe it was my imagination, but I thought I saw him blush for a moment when he explained himself.

"Huh? What's the big deal? We're neighbours, aren't we?" Takano-san seemed slightly angry.

"Ohhh, you're neighbours. " I was surprised.

"Onodera only moved there to be near me." Takano-san grinned.

"I did not." Onodera-san retorted.

"Shion-chan…" I heard my aunt's voice.

"Oh, right. You were about to close the store…" I said to myself, not realizing that Onodera-san and Takano-san were still there.

"Oh, oh you were already closing. I'm sorry, I'll come by another day then." Onodera-san stood up and wanted to leave the store. Takano-san followed him and opened the door.

"Th-thank you very much for the tea and sorry for the bother." Onodera-san bowed down.

"Ah, my, it's okay. It was nice to meet some of Shion-chan's workmates." Aunt Rin said with a smile.

"Thank you very much." Takano-san bowed down as well. "Misaki, see you tomorrow." he said as he closed the door. I observed the two of them for a while, it looked like they were arguing about something, but they also looked like they were close. I took off the apron and grabbed my bag, ready to go home too.

"Thank you for your help, Shion-chan." Aunt Rin said.

"No problem. I'll head home now. Tell Uncle Yuri bye, okay?" I told her as I opened the door to the street.

"I will, have a nice evening."

"Bye bye." I closed the door and started walking home. I was looking forward to my first duties as an editor the next day.


	4. An editor's duty

4 – Shion's 4th Case – An editor's duty

"Misaki, get over here!" Takano-san yelled the moment I entered the office.

"Uhm… c-coming!" I quickly put down my bag on my desk and walked towards him.

"You're gonna get a manga to supervise. Here are the notes, the mangaka will come by tomorrow for a meeting." he handed me a folder.

"A-already? Really?!" I smiled.

"Yes. Study that folder today so that you're ready for tomorrow. Oh and also, make sure to call the mangaka to set a time for your meeting. That's everything, do your best." he said and got back to his work.

"I'll work hard, thank you very much!" I bowed down and walked back to my desk, happily holding the folder with both of my hands.

"Morning Shii-tan, what's that?" Kisa-senpai asked as I sat down.

"Good morning. Takano-san just gave me my first manga!" I said with a smile.

"Ohhh, congrats, congrats. What kind of manga is it?"

"Hmm, I don't know yet, I haven't taken a look inside." I opened the folder. " _Hoshi Furu Yoru_. That's the title." I read it out aloud.

"Night of falling stars, huh? Sounds interesting. Do your best!" he said and turned back to look at his laptop. I thanked him and started looking through the sheets in the folder.

The mangaka was a young woman named Kotori Sakura. According to the notes, it wasn't her first attempt at creating a manga. She had tried to submit manga a few times already, but was always told her stories wouldn't fit the magazine. There were no problems with her drawings though, according to her own testimony, she attended an art school and had always liked to draw since she was young. When suggested several times to team up with a storywriter, she thankfully refused, saying she'd want to create something on her own first.

I took a look at the manga's plot summary. The genres were romance, fantasy and mystery, but the thing that caught my attention was the protagonist. The story was told from a boy's perspective. I read through it and immediately got interested in the story, I wanted to know more and I decided to ask her some questions during our meeting the next day. I continued looking through the notes and after I was done I decided to call her. I took some deep breaths as I dialled her number on my office phone. After I took one last breath to calm myself down I finally pushed the call button.

"Y-yes? Hello?" a woman's voice answered.

"Good day, my name is Shion Misaki from Marukawa Publishing's Emerald Department. Am I speaking to Kotori Sakura-sensei?" I asked friendly.

"Y-yes, that's me."

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you right now, Sakura-sensei, but I called to ask about tomorrow's meeting time…"

"Oh, yes, I understand."

"Thank you very much. Then, do you have a preferred time?"

"Not really, I have no other plans for tomorrow."

"I see, then how about 2pm, would that be alright for you?"

"Yes, sure. I'll be there."

"Thank you very much, Sakura-sensei. Then we'll talk again tomorrow, yes?"

"Yes, thank you very much as well, Misaki-san."

"No problem. Well then, I hope you have a nice day. Until tomorrow, Sakura-sensei."

"Y-you too, until tomorrow, Misaki-san." she said and hung up. I let out a deep sigh and hung up too.

"Amazing Shii-tan. You sure it's your first time doing this kind of work?" Kisa-senpai had apparently been listening to me the entire time.

"Well, I have experience in talking to customers and strangers because of my part-time jobs in different bookstores, so talking to someone on the phone isn't really that much of a challenge, I guess." I explained.

"Impressive! I get the feeling you're a perfect fit for this kind of work."

"I think I still have a lot to learn, Kisa-senpai." I smiled.

"Y-yes, and… _I,_ as your senpai, still have tons of things to show you, hehe…" he was in a good mood. "So you gonna meet her tomorrow?"

"Yes. I hope everything goes well. I'm a bit nervous."

"I bet she's at least as nervous as you, don't worry."

"If you say so…"

"Oh but I'll be away tomorrow, so I won't be able to help you, Shii-tan. Sorry."

"It's okay, I'll manage." I smiled and continued my work. I saw that there was also a rough storyboard in the folder Takano-san had given me. I looked through it and started reading. At first I hesitated to note down things or correct stuff because it was my first time actually doing it. But I took another deep breath, took a red pen and marked things that I found important to address when talking to Sakura-sensei the next day. I was sunken into the storyboard when my phone started ringing.

"Marukawa Publishing Emerald Department Shion Misaki speaking, how may I help you?" I asked while continuing my work.

"Uhm, Misaki-san?" a familiar voice asked.

"Sakura-sensei?"

"Y-yes, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but…"

"Is something the matter?" I put down my pen.

"Well, it's about tomorrow's meeting…"

"Yes?"

"We decided on a time, but I think we didn't decide on a place to meet, and-"

"Oh my! You're right. Excuse me, I'm terribly sorry, how could I-" I was freaking out internally.

"Ah, no no, don't worry. It's okay, I didn't remember earlier either, so we're both to blame." she said followed by a chuckle.

"O-okay… then, is it okay if we meet here at Marukawa?" I asked finally.

"Of course. Then tomorrow at 2pm."

"Yes. Exactly. I'm so sorry again."

"It's okay. Well then, until tomorrow, Misaki-san."

"Until tomorrow, Sakura-sensei." I said and hung up. I let my head fall down on the desk and hid under my arms.

"You okay?" Kisa-senpai asked.

"Mhm." I nodded.

"You forgot to say where to meet?"

"Mhm." I nodded again.

"There there." he patted my head and giggled.

"Senpai are you laughing?" I said still hidden.

"Me? Nooo!"

I sighed deeply and continued my work as if nothing had happened. Luckily no one else except Kisa-senpai had noticed my mistake. The rest of the day passed by without any further occurrences. On my way home I stopped by a konbini only to buy dinner for my cats, but when I saw the new Shounen Bump I had to buy that one as well.

"I'm baaaack." I said as I opened the door to my apartment. I entered the living room, put down my bag and went to the kitchen. As soon as I filled their feeding dishes, my cats joined me in the kitchen. "Hey Kiriko, hey Kumota." I said and stretched out my arm to pat them, but they dodged and headed to the food. Cats. Kiriko and Kumota were siblings, I got them from my parents when I left home to live on my own. I've been told they're Himalayan Cats, I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to different cat breeds, but I know that they're pretty and fluffy. Since I wasn't that hungry I only ate some of the leftover rice balls I made the day before. I sat down on the couch, turned on the TV and started reading Shounen Bump. I decided to not stay up too late, tomorrow would be a very important day.

When I woke up the next day, I was lying on my couch, the manga magazine on my chest and my cats on my legs. I apparently fell asleep without noticing it. Luckily my TV had a function where I could set a timer to turn off automatically. And since my couch was comfortable enough I didn't mind having spent my night on it instead of my bed; it happened frequently. I stood up and got ready to leave; it was the big day of my first meeting.

"Good morning everyone!" I said as I entered the office.

"Morning, Misaki-san." Hatori-san was the only one there.

"Where are the others?" I asked as I sat down.

"Meeting."

"I see." I took out my laptop and put it on the desk.

"Everything ready for your first meeting?" he asked.

"Yup, everything ready. Everything planned. There's no way this can go wrong, it's fool proof." I said proudly.

"Glad to hear, do your best then, Misaki-san."

"Thank you very much!" I said and focused on my work. I still had plenty of time until Sakura-sensei arrived. "Better look through storyboard again, yes." I said to myself. Time passed and it was already 1:50pm when my phone rang.

"Marukawa Publishing Emerald Department Shion Misaki speaking, how may I help you?" I said as I picked up the phone.

"Good day Misaki-san, this is Minori Sasaki, from the reception desk. Kotori Sakura-sensei has arrived. Shall I send her to your offices?" a woman's voice asked.

"Oh, uhm, sure. Thank you very much, Sasaki-san." I answered.

"Understood, well then…" she said and hang up. I took a deep breath and got everything ready. "Let's do this." I stood up and wanted to wait in front of the elevator, but at the same time a somewhat short woman with long brown hair, big glasses and a cap was standing at Emerald Department's entrance. She was holding a briefcase with both of her hands.

"Uhm… Kotori Sakura has arrived." she said.

"…Sakura-sensei?" I approached her.

"Misaki-san?"

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you!" I said, bowed down and stretched out my business card.

"The pleasure's all mine, Misaki-san." she said. I looked up again and she was smiling. She seemed like a nice person, there was no reason to be nervous.

"Very well, shall we start our meeting then?" I said and led the way to a separate room. She nodded and followed me. I opened the door, let her in, entered as well and closed the door. We sat down at the table and before I could say anything she had started talking already.

"Oh, here." she said and stretched out her business card. "I kind of always forget this, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, thank you." I smiled. "Well then, uhm…"

"Do you like my story?" she said out of nowhere.

"I do. I've only looked through the storyboard so far, but it does seem like it can become an interesting story." I said.

"Really? You don't think it's weird I'm applying for a shoujo magazine with a story that features a male protagonist?"

"I don't."

"Misaki-san you're the first one that thinks like that. All my prior stories were rejected because of that. They said 'that's not how it's supposed to be', but that's the point!"

"I would like to read through those as well some time, if you don't mind."

"No, not at all! I'd love to show you." she smiled.

"Oh, I'm… I'm sorry… we should, get to the meeting. Sorry, this is my first actual meeting." I scratched the back of my head.

"Ohh, okay. I'm sorry, I'm kind of used to them already."

"You are? You sounded rather nervous on the phone, if I may say so."

"That's just because I _really_ dislike talking to people on the phone."

"Is that so?" I chuckled. And for some reason I felt relieved afterwards. I took a deep breath and took out the storyboard from my folder. "Okay, so… here. I'm not sure if everything I did was correct but…" I said and the air around her changed. The happy carefree attitude changed to a serious one as soon as she saw the corrections I'd made to her storyboard.

"Oh, yes. I see. I wasn't quite sure if the reader would understand it if I'd make it that way, so I was hoping for you to notice it and decide on it." she pointed at a corrected spot.

"It felt like some readers may not immediately understand what you want to express in this panel." I took out my pen.

"Yes, yes. Exactly." she said. I already knew that she took her work very seriously, despite her joyful nature. I was happy the first mangaka I was assigned to was someone like her.

"As to this next one…" I continued talking and time passed by in a flash. I learned a lot just by talking to Sakura-sensei. An hour had passed and the meeting finally came to an end.

"Phew…" I said.

"I'm gonna start working as soon as I get home so I can send you the edited storyboard as soon as possible, Misaki-san!" her eyes were sparkling.

"Thank you very much, I'll be looking forward to it then." I said and put everything back into my folder.

"Awesome! Well if there's nothing else to discuss, I'll be taking my leave then." she stood up. I stood up as well and opened the door.

"Well then, thank you again. I'm looking forward to be working with you, Sakura-sensei." I smiled.

"Me too, Misaki-san." she said as she pushed the elevator's button. The doors opened and she entered. "Bye-bye." she waved her arm as the doors closed. I walked back to my desk and sat down.

"Phew…" I sighed deeply.

"Well done, Misaki." I heard Takano-san.

"Oh, Takano-san. Thank you very much. Is the meeting over?" I asked.

"Yup, finally."

"How did it go?" Onodera-san asked.

"I think everything went well." I answered.

"Glad to hear." he smiled.

"Hang in there. It's only getting tougher from now on, newbie." Takano-san said with a grin.

"Yes sir!" I saluted. At the same time, a familiar voice called out to us.

"Whoooo wants donuts?" Kisa-senpai was standing there all of a sudden.

"Kisa-san, weren't you out on business?" Onodera-san asked.

"Yup, Ricchan. But I finished earlier and decided to come here and bring you something." he was holding a little box on his hand, various pastries were printed onto it. Takano-san sighed and stood up.

"Kisa, how often do I have to tell you not to bring sweets into the offi-"

"I've got your favourites too, Takano-san." Kisa-senpai said.

"…okay, coffee break time everyone." he put his glasses on the table, approached Kisa-senpai, took the box and walked towards the break room.

"H-hey, Takano-san. They're not all for you!" Kisa-senpai followed him.

"Oh my, shall we go as well?" Onodera-san said as he stood up.

"Sure!" I said and joined the others. A tasty donut would be a great reward for my first successful meeting as a manga editor.


End file.
